Friday, August 28, 2015

For Less than Half Cost of Peskov’s Watch, Thousands of Incurably Ill Russian Children Won’t Die in Agony

Paul
Goble

Staunton, August 28 – The gross imbalance
between the very rich and the rest of the population is tragically
characteristic of many countries, but its insupportability is obvious when one
compares what some wealthy people spend on trifles with the needs of the most
defenseless members of the population, incurably ill children.

Earlier this month it was reported that Vladimir
Putin’s press secretary was given a watch costing almost a half million US
dollars. For less than half of that amount, Russia will be able to open a
fourth hospice for some of the thousands of incurably ill children in that
country, children who now are at risk of dying in agony.

Viktor Shenderovich, a Moscow journalist,
reports that “thousands of Russian children are not simply dying; they are
dying in agony. It is not possible to save their lives, but it is possible to
reduce their suffering.” Tragically, the Russian government has entirely
different priorities, and consequently, he appeals to good Russians and others
to help.

At the present time, there are only three
hospices for children in Russia: one in Izhevsk, a second in St. Petersburg,
and a third in Kazan. There are also palliative drug services for children
remaining at home, he writes; but this program is entirely inadequate given the
numbers of incurably ill youngsters (takiedela.ru/2015/08/hopice/).

According to unofficial data – and the
Russian government these days does what it can not to report officially
anything this untoward – there are approximately 278,000 Russian children who
are suffering from incurable illnesses. Of these, approximately 42,000 need
palliative care right now.

(On the Russian government’s hiding of key
health data since the beginning of Putin’s second term, see, among others,
Vadim Belotserkovsky’s extremely useful if discouraging discussion at vestnikcivitas.ru/pbls/3849.)

In
the face of government cutbacks, including Putin’s infamous “optimization” of
the medical system, the situation is getting worse. But private activists are
trying to fill the gap, Shenderovich reports.Since 1997, the Raduga Charitable Center to Aid Children has been
operating, and it has a palliative center.

Now
that center needs money for the construction of a children’s hospice, “the first
beyond the Urals, the first in Siberia, and the first in the Asiatic part of
Russia.”A building has been found and
is being remodeled, but funds are needs to equip it so that it can help the children
there.

Raduga needs 13.5 million rubles (less
than 200,000 US dollars) to complete the work. “In our case,” the journalist
says, there are no hopes for the state” to do something. “The hope, the last,
is in the [Russian] people … We cannot conquer death but defeating suffering is
within out powers.”

Shenderovich includes at this site a
form where people can make a contribution. So far, people have sent more than
five million rubles (80,000 US dollars). Given the absurdity of Russian law,
one fears recommending that anyone not a Russian citizen give money lest Raduga
be denounced as a foreign agent.One
prays that Russians will respond.